Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing?
You can get a refund of the interest you paid on unaffordable loans.
It’s easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template letters here. The letters work if your payday loans were repaid or you still owe money.
The comments below this article have thousands of stories of the refunds people have got using these letters. It is a great place to ask questions!
Contents
What are “unaffordable” loans?
Was a loan affordable just because you repaid it?
No! If paying a loan left you so broke you had to borrow again – from the same lender or a different one – it was unaffordable!
The regulator says:
“the borrower should be able to make the required repayments without undue difficulty, whilst continuing to meet other debt repayment obligations and reasonable regular outgoings.”
That means a payday loan is only affordable if you repaid it on time and you could still manage to pay your other bills and debts.
Payday loans are meant to solve a short-term problem. If you kept repaying one then getting another loan soon after, the lender should have stopped lending to you.
If the loan was small and it was the first loan or second loan from a lender, the lender may not have realised the loan was unaffordable for you. But it was irresponsible lending to just carry on giving you more loans.
Many lenders ignore obvious signs of problems such as your loans increasing in size, or borrowing again soon after repayment.
How much compensation can you get?
You don’t have to calculate this. Just ask for a refund from the lender and see what you are offered. This is simple and it works well.
The Financial Ombudsman has seen tens of thousands of payday loan affordability complaints.
A typical decision by the Ombudsman is that the payday lender should refund all the interest you paid interest after the third, fourth or fifth loan.
But if your first loan was large, or was rolled over several times you could get a refund from just one loan.
Which lenders can you get refunds from?
You can complain to lenders that are still in business, even if they are no longer lending. These include:
Lending Stream, Cash Converters, CashASAP, Drafty, Dot Dot, Fast Loan Uk, Fernovo, Fund Ourselves, Kabayan, LoanPig, Mr Lender, Moneyboat, MyKredit, My Finance Club, QuidMarket, Savvy, The Money Platform, WageMe, Wizzcash,
See this email list for payday lenders for a longer list and all the contact details to use.
If the lender has gone into administration, including CashForUNow, Piggybank, Ferratum, Oakam:
- make a claim to the administrators – there is normally a simple form for you to complete, see the lender’s website for details – but there will be a time limit for doing this.
- you may not get much cash back but this is very easy to do. A balance may be reduced or cleared even if there is no cash to distribute. And if you win the complaint any negative marks on your credit record will be removed.
It is probably too late to make claims to other lenders who gave up years ago, see this list.
For longer-term loans there are better template letters to use on other pages:
- doorstep lenders and guarantor lenders,
- Loans2Go – the worst loans in Britain!
- 118 Money, Everyday lonas, Likely Loans/Finio, Reevo, Bamboo, car finance, bank loans and other long-term loans.
Do this before, before you send in a complaint
Doing these things now will make your life easier later.
Get a copy of your TransUnion statutory credit report and keep it. After complaints are started, sometimes loans are deleted and you may want the full report if you later have to go to the Ombudsman.
If you still owe money to the lender, read Will an affordability claim hurt my credit record, and other questions. These looks at your options for stopping paying, the effect on your credit record etc.
If the rest of your finances are difficult, look into a Debt Management Plan (DMP) where you make one affordable payment a month to StepChange. This gets you into a safe financial position as these affordability complaints can take a long time to go through at the Ombudsman. Winning a complaint then speeds up the DMP.
Unless you can afford to make this month’s payment without borrowing again, cancel the CPA to the lender at your bank. Otherwise the lender may take the money and you will be in a mess.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector you complain to the original lender. But also tell the debt collector that you are disputing the debt. It is a good idea to carry on making payments to the debt collector if they are affordable.
Start your complaint & get loan details
Find the lender’s email address for complaints from this list.
Put “AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT” as the subject of your email:
You should never have given me these unaffordable loans. Paying you each month left me with too little money so I had to keep borrowing to get through the next month.
You should have realised from the number of times I borrowed that my debt problems were getting worse. It was not responsible to continue to lend to me. [Add more details eg how often you borrowed or rolled loans if you know them, how the amount borrowed generally went up etc]
[Include/change this if your credit record would have shown big problems:] My credit reports would have shown all my other debts and problems including late payments/defaults /CCJs/debt management.]
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
[delete this sentence if you know what all your loans were.] I know the difficulties your loans have caused me but I no longer have all the loan details. Please send me a list, showing for each loan when it was taken out, how much interest and charges you added, and what I repaid. This will enable me to assess any refund you offer me.
[delete this sentence if none of your loans were sold.]If a loan was later sold to a debt collector, please inform me of the date of sale and the name of the debt collector.
Some ways to improve this
Add any other points that help you describe what happened to you. You don’t need to list the loans – the lenders knows them.
Some examples:
- “I took out another loan with xxxx to pay you.”
- “Sometimes I borrowed to pay the rent and then had to top-up to get money for food.”
- if you weren’t treated fairly while you were borrowing or when you could not make a payment, add a bit about this.
You can attach bank statements if you like, This is a good idea as these show how unaffordable the loans were for you. If you have gambling showing, this helps your complaint, it doesn’t harm it.
I don’t know if many lenders actually read what you send them. I
it’s easy to make these complaints – you don’t need to calculate what refund you should get or quote laws.
Only one loan?
The template refers to multiple loans because that is what normally happens with payday lenders.
When you only had one loan and it was large, read Refunds from large loans and use the template there.
If you only had one loan and it was small, this is going to be a very difficult complaint to win. If you have borrowed once or twice from 5 leaders, that is much more difficult to win an affordability complaint than having 4 or 5 loans from two lenders.
Waiting for a reply from the lender
This email starts your affordability complaint.
They may send the list of loans first and later respond to your complaint. So don’t be surprised if you get sent info on the loans but nothing about your request for a refund.
When you get your loan information, you can send in more details about your complaint if you want. You don’t have to do this, your complaint has already begun and the lender has to reply.
The lender should reply to your complaint within 8 weeks from when you send the email, not when they acknowledge it. Make a note in your diary for 8 weeks time and chase the lender up if you don’t get a reply.
Don’t be surprised if you have to wait until the end of the 8 weeks to get response – this is common.
Send your bank statements or other information?
Some lenders ask you to send them a copy of your credit record, payslips or bank statements.
Credit record – the lender can check your credit record themselves if they want. But you should download a copy of your credit record asap as the Ombudsman will ask for it. Don’t put this off, the sooner you get a report downloaded, the further back it goes which is good.
Don’t send payslips.
It is a good idea to send bank statements. But think twice about the cost of copying and postage if there are a lot. Some lenders seem to ignore them if you do send them.
Again this is a good point to get those bank statements even if you do not want to send them as they will help an Ombudsman claim a lot. You can get them going back at least 6 years even if the account has been closed.
Lender says No or makes a poor offer
If the lender rejects your complaint or offers you a small amount, don’t be depressed. You may still have a very good case!
It is easy and free to send your case to the Financial Ombudsman where many thousands of people have won their payday loan complaints, despite being rejected by the lender.
Give up?
Some lenders try to make your case sound bad when it isn’t. People have had large amounts refunded after a complete rejection!
Just ignore any of the following comments, they do not mean you have a weak case:
- they relied on your loan applications and you didn’t give accurate facts – see Lender says I lied for more about this;
- you repaid some loans early – this doesn’t prove the loans were affordable, just that you were trying to save interest;
- your borrowing didn’t go up every time – irrelevant, what matters is that you kept borrowing;
- you had a good enough credit score or they didn’t legally have to check your credit record – if you only had one or two small loans that is true. But if the loans were large or you kept borrowing, they should have looked more closely;
- some loans are over 6 years old – the Ombudsman will look at these even if the lender says they won’t!
A good enough case to go to the Ombudsman?
If you don’t know what to do, ask in the comments below this article. Accepting an offer settles your whole complaint – you can’t change your mind later.
Don’t worry that you will lose a small offer by going to the Ombudsman – this doesn’t happen.
Some points to think about:
- if you are offered a refund on only a few loans, don’t accept it if you think the lender should have realised a lot of the other loans were unaffordable;
- an offer to write off your current balance may sound convenient … but it may be very poor if you should get a refund as well;
- if getting defaults or late payments removed from your credit record is important to you, are you happy with what the lender is proposing to do? Don’t assume your credit record will be cleared if the lender didn’t mention this.
One or two loan cases are hard to win at the Ombudsman. It’s probably best to give up on one or two loan cases unless:
- the loan was large. Here is one single loan case that was won even though it was an instalment loan and the borrower had a good income. And another single loan case for a loan of £1,000. You can win cases for smaller amounts if the repayment would have been a large amount of your income; or
- you still owe money.
Don’t delay too long – there is a 6-month time limit after a lender rejects your complaint to send the case to the ombudsman. When you aren’t sure, send the complaint to FOS. This is free and easy to do – let FOS make the decision.
How to send a complaint to FOS
Put in a separate complaint about each lender.
Don’t wait until all your lenders have replied before sending the first one to the Ombudsman!
FOS’s “complain online” option is easy and takes you through your complaint step by step.
You can just copy what you said in your complaint to the lender. You can add more details, for example, if you disagree with what the lender replied to you.
If some of your loans were over 6 years ago, tell the Ombudsman when and how you found out about these complaints. For example:
“I knew the loans were causing me difficulty in 2018, but I thought this was my fault for being bad with money. I didn’t find out that the lender should have checked the loans were affordable until June 2024 when my brother told me about these claims/I saw an advert from a claims company on Facebook/I read an article about these claims” – change this so it is right for your case!
Things to attach:
- the reply you have had from the lender.
- bank statements if you have them. Ideally from 3 months before your first loan until the last loan was repaid or you defaulted on it. This strengthens your case, showing how unaffordable the loans were. You can still get bank statements even if your account is closed – if you don’t have them, start the process of getting them now, don’t wait until FOS asks for them.
- a copy of your TransUnion Statutory credit report
- if you dont have the credit agreements, FOS will get them from the lender.
What happens after you have sent a case to FOS
You will normally be contacted within a couple of weeks and asked for a copy of your credit record and your bank statements if you haven’t sent these. If you have sent these on one complaint, then when you complain about a different lender FOS will use the ones they already have.
After this initial contact, your case will wait for the lender to send FOS your case file and then wait to be picked up by an adjudicator who will make a decision on it.
If you are still making payments to the lender, tell the lender you want to reduce these to an affordable amount. This will make waiting for an Ombudsman decision much less stressful for you.
The Financial Ombudsman has a two-stage process. Most cases are settled by the first “adjudicator” stage but about 10% go to the second “Ombudsman” stage.
A few problem cases
Don’t ask for a refund:
- if you are bankrupt now or have been bankrupt in the past – any refund would go to the Official Receiver.
- if you are in an IVA, as refunds will go to your IVA firm not to you. If your IVA has finished the refund may still be sent to your old IVA firm.
- if you are in a DRO now, getting a refund may mean your DRO is cancelled!
More help
You can ask a question in the comments below – you may get a reply from someone who has been in your exact situation.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. It’s easy to do this yourself and you can ask questions below and get replies from other readers who have done this.
Card & catalogue affordability complaints
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Could a Debt Relief Order help you?
Mark says
***FIRST SUCCESS – FULL UPDATE***
1) 118118Money – 1 Loan – Final Response received yesterday agreeing in full with my affordability complaint – They have agreed to refund all fees/interest and remove the loan from my credit file. I am now in discussions to arrange repayment as I will still have a balance outstanding. I’ll keep you posted.
2) Mr Lender – 1 Loan – Complaint dismissed – Passed to FOS 02/08/18 – Awaiting FOS contact.
3) Payday UK/Express – 2 Loans – Complaint dismissed – Passed to FOS 10/08/18 – Awaiting FOS contact.
4) QuickQuid – 1 Loan – Complaint dismissed – Passed to FOS 25/06/18 – Awaiting FOS contact.
5) Satsuma – 1 Loan – Complaint dismissed – Passed to FOS 29/06/18 – Awaiting FOS contact.
6) Sunny – 8 Loans – Complaint dismissed – Passed to FOS 28/07/18 – Awaiting FOS contact.
7) The Money Shop – 2 Loans – Complaint dismissed – Passed to FOS 02/08/18 – Awaiting FOS contact.
8) MyJar – 6 Loans – Complaint IGNORED – Passing to FOS today as 8 week deadline was 3 days ago.
9) Wonga – 18 Loans (All older than 6 years :-() – Complaint IGNORED – Passing to FOS today as 8 week deadline was 3 days ago.
10) Amigo – 1 Guarantor Loan (7K) – No response yet, but 8 week deadline isn’t until 23/09/18.
11) UK Credit – 1 Guarantor Loan (8K) – No response yet, but 8 week deadline isn’t until 23/09/18.
1 Down, 10 to go………..Thanks for all your help Sara and other posters. Mark
PQ says
Hi Guys,
So today I got my Third response. My first from Lending Stream, who says they followed all procedures correctly, so awaiting for FOS to pick this up, second from Satsuma, who have said the same…I might add, both of these companies lay everything on myself, saying I have broken the law if I had given them incorrect information, its a scary read, but I’ve not let it put me off.
Finally, I head from 118 money, who have agreed to payback the interest paid on my loan, plus the 8%, I should be receiving this in the next 3 – 5 days.
I’m only 5 weeks in to the whole process, having complained to 10 lenders about approximately 50 loans over 2 years, and I know I’ve probably got a long way to go, but I’m so happy to have found this website, and finally start taking back control.
I’ll keep you all updated.
Allan Fullarton says
Hi, has anyone had any experience with Sunny payouts? I’ve sent the offer approval form off to the FOS today, i’m just wondering how long it may take for the payout to hit my account. I’m aware they have 28 days, just really hoping it’s sooner. Thanks.
Jen says
I sent my acceptance to FOS 19/7/18 sunny put my refund in my bank at 5pm on 29/7/18, when I called to confirm they had it i asked when it will be paid they said they aim to settle within 10 days so won’t be long
Jen says
Hi does anyone know how long LendingStream take to pay out confirmed with FOS acceptance sent today thanks
Tina says
Hi, my payment from LS took 3 weeks from the date me sending my signed acceptance letter to the FOS. I emailed lending stream direct every couple of days stating I needed the finds urgently. I reckon if I didn’t email then every couple of days it would have taken a lot longer. Good luck!
Matt says
Hello, I have a number of loans I’m trying to get refunded. I also have other loans with different companies where I took just one loan but have not made any payments e.g. Lending Stream, took £200 loan, defaulted, now showing as £450. I haven’t communicated with them and not made any payments. Took out loan during financial hardship with with my credit record littered with defaults. Can I do anything to get this default removed from Call Credit and Experian?
Thanks
Matt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The only chance of getting the default deleted is to put in an affordability complaint to lending Stream.
When you aren’t being chased by a lender and you only had one loan, this can feel like a hard decision – aren’t you just going to poke a sleeping lion? Wouldn’t it be best to ignore it and hope they have forgotten about you and the debt will become statute barred?
The problem is, this usually doesn’t work. All too often you will find your debt has been sold to a debt collector who sends you a letter a month before the statute barred point and takes you to court for a CCJ. At that point it is much harder to get your complaint about affordability dealt with before the court case happens. And the worst case is the original lender has gone bust so you never get the complaint sorted and have to pay the debt collector.
Aggie says
Hello Shannon,
I recently started to ask for bank statements from my old bank account and it was really easy. I started off by calling the bank (HSBC in my case) and asked how I can retrieve my bank statements, the customer adviser said that I can only get bank statements for max of 6 years, and that they would have to charge me either £1 per page or a max of £10 in total. I was prepared to pay £10, however I was advised to go to any of the HSBC branches and request statements there, as they could not take the payment over the phone. When I went to the branch I approached first person I saw (it turned out to be branch manager) and I did explain I need bank statements for a closed account. He did ask for what period and I said that I need then as far back as I can go. Imagine my surprise when he requested bank statements since my account was opened in 2007. I was chuffed that he did it, the only problem was that they could request a max of 50 pages in one go and I was advised to come back the next day and request another 50 until I have all statements. When I did go back the next week ( I couldn’t do over the weekdays) I spoke to another person and he was surprised that I was advised to go to the branch when I called the bank first. So instead of going into the branch again I decided to call them again. It took about 20min in total but my request to send me the reminder of bank statements in one go was granted and I did not pay a penny of any of them.
Good luck!
christian says
Adjudicator found in my favour, Wonga has rejected based upon the fact always paid loans back on time, and expenses were paid into my account, which the adjudicator already has stated taken into account in their decision.
The adjudicator has written back to them to state the arguments put forward doesn’t change his decision and given them until 28th of August to respond.
he still says they should refund the 40 loans he requested first time, not feeling very confident at moment.
Stephen says
How do I go about claiming on loans that were taken out over 5 years ago? I can only supply bank statements between 2013 and 2017 because my bank only keeps 5 years worth on file (I presume from the date closed (Jan 2018) to (Jan 2013).
This would similarly apply to credit histories that I also can’t date back to 2011 or 2010 when I first started the spiral that I only escaped from last year. Funnily enough, these years were by far the worst in regards to the lending.
It also appears that I cannot find evidence of loans with Wonga as I may have used an old email address or they have hidden my record for viewing at my own discretion, something I have no issue viewing with Lending Stream or Quick Quid (not sure how to approach Quid yet as I know they rebranded a few years back).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the complaints to the lender as normal.
Also send a subject access request(SAR) to the bank asking for your bank statements for the dates you want – find the address to send the SAR to from the bank’s website, look for their privacy policy. Sometimes this will get you more statements! If it doesn’t, you can then show that to the ombudsman as proof you can’t get some of the statements.
The ombudsman only wants your current credit history – they know people can’t get old ones.
If you can’t find details of the old Wonga loans and you don’t remember what email address you used, then that sounds impossible to resolve.
Lilly says
Sastuma update:I have received a response from my complaint that during the time I took out the loans with themselves they were responsible lending. I have responded back to them explaining why I disagree with the outcome being that when I took out the loan if an affordability check had been carried out like they claimed they would have seen several open accounts with various payday lenders and I had to borrow in order to make repayments and then borrow to make repayments to them. And that has I felt I had to borrow in order to make repayments as it got too much and borrow higher amounts to repay higher payments this in fact is irresponsible lending. I have offered them a breakdown of all lending during the time they borrowed to me in order to back up my claim. I have informed them I will be taking the complaint to the ombudsman with the evidence of irresponsible lending (my calendar with all borrowing to make repayments)
tim says
i have just received a statement of loans from wage day advance but the file is password protected has this happened to anyone else how do you open the document?
Nick says
My password was my date of birth
Greg says
Hi Sara
Once with the FOS, what are the next steps when the lender reaponds accepting the adjudicators assessment?
E.g they accept to refund £2000
Do they send me something to sign, do they ask for my bank details? Any rough timelines would be great
Thanks
Dan says
Hi Greg,
I have had a few cases go to the FOS now. You will need to sign an acceptance form that the adjudicator will send you once the lender has agreed with the decision. If it needs to go to Ombudsman, my recent case took an extra 2.5 months before I had a final decision.
Greg says
Thanks Dan
I’ve Rejected Wonga’s offer and my adjudicator has sent to the ombudsman today for a final decision. Hoping their decision doesn’t diffe too much. Wonga offered £4,000 but the adjudicators total based on the loanss they said to refund worked out at £7,500 so Hopefully be worth the extra the wait £3,500 is a big difference.
Lending Stream, Quick Quid and Sunny all to respond by the 24th Aug to the adjudicators assessments
Mike says
Hi
I have sent off to the three major lenders so far in which one is yet to answer fully (Sunny) and the other two being Wonga and QuickQuid – I had over 30 loans rolled over month after month with wonga for a 2 and a half year period, increasing the money borrowed each month, whilst also lending from QQ and Sunny at the stages too. I know the sticky situation it caught me in but they have both replied stating complaint not upheld. Looking at the information they say I was able to borrow and repay each month and there was no indication from me about a struggle to repay, although as mentioned they rolled and increased. Although I didn’t tell them at the time I was in financial difficulty this is how it all spiralled out of control. Would I still have a chance taking it all to the ombudsman? Look forward to any comments to support.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
All three are probably very good cases – send them all to the ombudsman to decide. The regulator says a loan is affordable if you can manage to repay it without hardship and without having to borrow again – but you were trapped borrowing month after month as you say. And often with increasing amounts. So the regulator doesn’t think being able to repay each month is a good enough reason to carry on lending. Why didn’t the lenders notice this? Because they were making a lot of money out of you.
Jay says
Hi Sara
For the past year I have been borrowing from quickquid in which the last loan was for £400 the first two installments we’re £56 then £99 the final instalment due is for £499 which I can’t afford can you give me some advice on what to do next. Shall I cancel cpa then make make a claim with quickquid? I am also in a DMP. Any advice would be great. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you can’t afford the last payment yes cancel the CPA, you don’t want to be left with too little money so you gave to borrow again. Put in an unaffordable lending complaint about all your loans with them. I suggest you ask your DMP firm if you can add the QQ debt into your DMP, explain how sorry you are and that you now realise borrowing this was a big mistake.
Laura says
Hi again,
I was told two weeks ago I had been assigned an adjudicator but haven’t heard anything since. I’ve been told I’m at risk of redundancy today so starting to panic as I rejected a £4000 first offer from wonga. Does the adjudicator stage take as long as the queue to be assigned. Anyone’s experience would be appreciated.TIA
Ella says
One the adjudicator started my wonga case it was two weeks for the whole thing to complete including payment in full from wonga. You can contact them once it is assigned an adjudicator, I found them to be very helpful even before they decided my case as well as afterwards. You could explain your situation to them too. Good luck.
Michael Owen says
I am currently going through the claims process but the majority of my loans from wonga and quick quid were from 2007-2009. Will they still have all of this information on file? Quick quid have given me information on only two loans but I was a platinum member at one stage and took out dozens of loans.
My moneyshop payday loans from in branch from 2004-2007 what are the chances of it all still being on file?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Will they still have all of this information on file?” I don’t know. Have you sent them a Subject Access request? If they don’t, your other options are to get the details from your emails if you keep them going back that far or from your bank statements.
“My moneyshop payday loans from in branch from 2004-2007” you will not win a case at the ombudsman for loans before April 2007 – that was the date on which the Ombudsman became responsible for this sort of consumer lending. I would be surprised if this one is worth pursuing.
Lisa says
Hi Sara, I have a question. I’ve had 2 responses from both CashASAP (8 loans in 6 months, all for £300) and Mr Lender (7 loans in 3 years, all increasing amounts and 4 whilst in a DMP).
Both lenders say they acted responsibly but as “good will gestures” CashASAP have said they will refund me £66 in interest for 5 loans (ive quieried this amount as it seems very low and they haven’t provided a SOA) and Mr Lender have said they’ll refund me interest on my last (current) loan reducing the balance from £1800 to £1200.
My question is, if the lenders didn’t think I had a good case why not just refuse to refund anything at all? Why are they saying “we don’t agree with you but we’ll refund x amount”? Is it a case of them hoping I accept their offer because they think the FOS will rule in my favor? I don’t understand it.
Lastly, with the 7 loans from Mr Lender I will have paid (including my outstanding loan) approx £2700 in interest. Is £600 interest off my current (last) loan a good deal? I’m not sure what to do!!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“CashASAP have said they will refund me £66 in interest for 5 loans (ive quieried this amount as it seems very low and they haven’t provided a SOA) ”
Definitely query that! Can you not tell from your bank statements what interest you paid?
“Mr Lender (7 loans in 3 years, all increasing amounts and 4 whilst in a DMP).” Can you say for each of the first 6 loans – date borrowed, date repaid, how much you borrowed
And for the last loan say date borrowed , amount borrowed and amount paid so far.
Lisa says
I haven’t received SOA’s from either and unfortunately I’m one of those people who change bank accounts every year or so, so I’ve had to send off SAR requests to virtually every bank on the high street. I’ll wait for my bank statements and see what the difference is. Thank you for your response.
Lisa says
Just to give an update; I still haven’t received SOA’s from CashASAP so still unsure whether to accept the £66 or not… chased them up today as it’s been 2 weeks since their offer and my response asking for SOA’s. I also called their customer service department about a week ago and they were rude and unhelpful; were unable to view my details on their system and the department I needed to talk to was closed. Was unable to leave a message, told to call again, leave a message the next day and *hopefully* someone would call me back. Poor service. I haven’t called back yet but if I get no response from my ‘chasing’ email today I will.
I decided to accept the Mr Lender offer. It was actually a total of £781 deducted from my outstanding balance, leaving me with £676 left to pay. I’m already in an arrangement plan with them and they’ve been nothing but decent so was happy to accept.
Marie says
So fos asked lending stream to refund 10 out of 13 loans. My jar asked to refund loan 1,3 and 4 now ( only 4 loans with them) so going good so far.
Just sunny, satsuma and 118 to go. Finally getting somewhere after 6 months with fos and a few delays with them losing my stuff. Hang in there people.
zac says
Hi , I’ve had a total of 35 loans from lending stream between May 2016 to present.
I have always paid them back on time but am always having to take out another loan pretty much every month, sometimes 2-3 a month since the first loan.
would this count as irresponsible lending?
I’ve not missed payments or notified them of my financial difficulty as i have needed the money to pay my bills
two of the loans are outstanding and the loan amounts are increasing to cover the last
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a good case of irresponsible lending to me!
I suggest you put in a complaint. If you can’t make the repayments on the current 2 loans without running into difficulty and having to borrow again, cancel the CPA to Lending Strem with your bank and tell LS you would an affordable arrangement to repay. This won’t hurt your complaint – it supports the complaint showing the current loans are not affordable. It may in the short term hurt your credit record, but if LS have to refund these last two loans they will also have to remove any negative marks from your credit record.
David says
Adjudicator has agreed with me after I sent bank statements on loans 5/10 with sunny. Originally they had sided with sunny.
They have till 23rd to reply.
How do I find out what interest I paid on loans 5/10. I have the loan amounts but no idea what I paid back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What you repaid should show on your bank statements? Take what you repaid, subtract what you borrowed and the difference is interest plus charges.
James says
Hi Sara,
Had a look around the site but couldn’t find the answer. I have received an offer from MyJar through my adjudicator and have accepted but have not received the payment yet. This was almost 3 weeks ago now.
How long do they get to pay the refund? The adjudicator didn’t tell me anything like this
Thanks
Shannon says
They get 4 weeks to refund. If not refunded by then contact your adjudicator.
Nat Garvey says
Hi there, has anyone had a loan from a company called Zebit? My understanding is that they were brought out by Lending Stream… I had a few loans from them and was just curious about anyone else’s experience.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They were a very small lender so rarely mentioned here. Just complain to Lending Stream.
Alison says
One of my debts moved right though to ccj. I’ve now at adjudicator level won the battle and they’ve (LS) been told to buy back debt and clear my record of default.
What happens with the ccj? Has anyone had one removed by the lender?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can ask the adjudicator for LS to tell the debt collector they have to agree to you “setting aside” the CCJ.
David says
Hi all
Wonga finally got back to me with list of loans. Now I know where my starting point is
Looking to request old bank statements. Has anyone tried to request statements from Nationwide older than 3 years and get them without going in to branch and get them online rather than recieve paper copies ie PDF’s?
Ljc says
Yes I got mine from nationwide ….I just messaged them on my internet banking and they sent me the 6 years I asked for via the post and it didn’t cost me anything and some where over 9 years ago
Tom says
Hi David
I’ve literally (yesterday) received all of my bank statements from Nationwide dating back to the opening of my account in 2011.
Unfortunately, they only offer paper statements this far back. I also asked for PDF and they said they can’t.
It was quite a hefty stack, but I’ve nearly gone through them all. I’ve made a spreadsheet on excel to document the dates, lenders, credits, and repayments.
You can log into your online banking to go as far back as 2015, but anything before then you’ll have to give them a call.
I also wasn’t charged for them. I know that some banks charge for statements print outs.
Anita says
Apart from the recent complaints, being in DMP for the last 6 years I have an excellent overdraft which I have mentioned before that never clears as do not earn that much monthly. I appreciate your previous advise Sarah but asking shall I speak to the bank over the phone or send an email asking for affordable repayment and refund of the charges. I have £1300 overdraft for 4 years and earn around £1100 monthly.
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you ask for the overdraft to be added in your DMP and you get a new basic bank account with a different bank.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If they increased your overdraft limit after your DMP had started, yes.
Nat says
Hi I have had an adjudicator agree with my complaint and tell the company (payday express) to refund me and to get back to her by the 16th August but I still having heard nothing yet. Anyone know what happens if they don’t answer ?
Dan says
The adjudicator would have given them a date to reply by (usually a couple of weeks). If they don’t reply, it will be sent to the Ombudsman which will take another 10 weeks or so.
Rayna Hardy says
Hi All,
Really struggling to get a response from 247 Money box, looking through the forum, it looks like they just reject every case on the 8th week – Is that everyones experience?
I sent them the outcome of 8 FOS cases that were settled in my favour with the hope that this would show them that the FOS is going to withhold it anyway so they may aswell refund the interest and save themselves £550 but no joy!
What’s everyone elses experience with them please?
John M says
This is very standard of 247 Moneybox. Tell them you are taking the case to the FOS. They will reply asking what you want as a reasonable settlement. Stick to your guns, you will get offers from them so stick with it until you get what you want.
Good luck.
Rayna Hardy says
Thanks John, they would’t even respond to my complaint with an acknowledgement, i sent them an email informing them they hadn’t followed their own process and they finally sent a acknowledgment. Based on what i’ve seen on here though they do not reply to anyone until week 8 and then just let all of the complaints go to the FOS ???
Helping a friend so these are not even my complaints but hoping I can get it sorted for her one way or another.
Gary Santer says
Hi my experience is that they took the full 8 weeks then offered to clear the os bal as a goodwill gesture but didn’t agree with me in the complaint against them. I sent to FOS end of March and 247 I’m not even sure handed over my business files I’m now awaiting it to be allocated to an adjudicator. Seems to be taking forever they say it’s down to the backlog yet people are saying their complaints are being allocated all out of sync so I’ve no idea what’s occurring with mine really.
George says
Hi all,
I have had wonga agree with the adjudicator on my complaint. In my email from the FOS it says that the adjudicator will contact wonga and let them know I have accepted their offer and wonga will contact myself to arrange payment. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it best if I wait a couple of days then contact wonga myself? Also how long do they usually take to make payment? It’s been 10 months since I started my complaint with wonga so I don’t want to be waiting even longer for the refund to be paid. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.
Aggie says
Hello Sarah,
I have made a request for Oakam to provide me with details on my two loans I have taken with them in 2007 and 2008 (under GDPR rule). They did not send me the details of my loans instead treated the email as an official complaint and responded:
[Since raising your concerns, we have reviewed the loan agreements you entered with Oakam on 25 July 2007 and 21 February 2008. For these loans, we will not be able to uphold your complaint. This is because we note that this/these loan(s) have/has been raised outside of the 6-year eligibility rule period outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). For clarity, the rule states that a complaint needs to be logged within 6 years of the incident in question or 3 years after a consumer should have reasonably been aware there was an issue. This has been outlined in The Financial Conduct Authority Handbook (2015) under DISP 2.8.2 which states the Financial Ombudsman may not consider a complaint if the complainant refers the complaint to the Ombudsman: more than: (a) six years after the event complained of; or (if later) (b) three years from the date on which the complainant became aware (or ought reasonably to have become aware) that he had cause for complaint;].
Is there a point to pursue it further? Without details I am not sure what I paid. how much I borrowed and if I had any PPI on them.
Kind regards,
Aggie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are entitled to the information that you have asked for. Just two loans and that long ago may prove a hard case to win though. So far as I know Oakam didn’t charge PPI, but you could ask them specifically about this? Or just repeat your request for your loan details.
Ben says
Hi All,
Quick question – does it generally affect these claims if you put incorrect information in the expenditures section in order to ensure acceptance when applying for loans?
I would argue that I did this because I was in a lot debt and highly stressed at the time, and the lenders still did not carry out reasonable checks as they would have been able to see this if they had requested bank statements etc. But I wonder if the lenders will try and reject my claim based on the fact i essentially lied about my other outgoings?
Does anyone have much experience with this issue?
Thanks in advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/. Basically if you only borrowed a few times, you will probably struggle with a complaint if your application was seriously inaccurate. But if you kept on borrowing from the same lender, then the lender should have realised there was something wrong and asked extra questions.
Expect these complaints to be rejected by the lenders and to have to go to the Ombudsman.
Damian says
Hi. I was very foolish and in the past 6 yrs have had approx 40 loans from (wonga, Q Quid, Payday UK, sunny and Peachy, normally all building one to pay the other etc snowball. I have been on a DMP that entire time and this was just a spiral of being stretched from month to month. My DMP finishes in a few months but I was wondering would I have a case for irresponsible lending to reclaim interest?? I know I will be criticised for irresponsible borrowing but i also see it that they ultimately have the responsibility of doing correct checks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing. Your strongest complaints will be against the lenders you borrowed from the most. Don’t wait until your DMP finishes, put in the complaints now. Already some of your early loans may be over the 6 year point which makes it harder and slower to get a result.
James says
Ferratum have said today that they did nothing wrong but have offered £180 good will gesture. Interest paid was £560 in total.
Do you think they think they have acted irresponsibly if they are offering something?
Carl says
Quick query about Wonga.
My wife had her Wonga loan wiped in November ’14. They wrote off £1495.00 and I’ve worked out that the amount of interest paid going back to her first loan was £1494.92. All seemed good when they did this we were in an IVA and were relieved to have the amount removed. In looking at my PDL’s and asking for refunds and interest I realised that there was no interest applied by Wonga. The amount in question would have been an additional £220 and with further interest would now be just short of £300.
How would I word a request to have this refunded now?
Faye says
Hi I agreed a settlement with myjar of nearly £4000 they said it would take 15 business days , that is now up and no payment has been made . Is this usual ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to them and say you will be sending the case to the Ombudsman if you do not get the money within the next three days.
Mark says
Ben, I had one loan from 118118 money. I did exactly the same, lied about expenditure due to extreme gambling habit. I did an FSAR and got a copy of the income/expenditure form processed at application stage. Then went through each item one by one explaining that the figures they didn’t verify (just took my statement as fact), was a breach of FCA 5.3.1(4b) and the ones that were clearly wrong (e.g £10 p/m for electric, gas, heating) was a breach of 5.3.7. I have to say 118118 were excellent, they gave me FSAR within 2 weeks and a final response inside a month, upholding my complaint agreeing to refund all interest and fees and remove the loan from my credit record. I have just used the exact same method on Amigo and UK credit. Fingers crossed. Mark
Andy says
Hi mark , I had a uk credit loan that I couldn’t afford to pay resulting in lending a large sum from family to clear , could u advise on template used to them as feel my situation very similar to yours or just ur outcome on this one
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ for complaints about a guarantor loan
Mark says
Andy, I’d follow the advice of Sara and the guarantor templates on here. https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ My method hasn’t worked on the guarantor loans yet. Still waiting to hear from Amigo and UK Credit rejected my complaint so I’ve sent to the FOS. Would be foolish to send the letters I’ve sent when I have a 0% success rate so far! I’ll keep the forum updated though.
Billy says
Hi Sarah,
Just attached an email message of sunny loans, not surprised by the answer, 25 loans in the space of 8 months and they never did question why of was taking out a loan practically the same day.
I write further to our email dated 10 July 2018, thank you for your patience whilst I have been investigating your complaint.
My understanding of your complaint is that you feel we did not carry out appropriate checks to ensure you could afford your Sunny loan and that we are guilty of lending irresponsibly. To resolve the matter you have asked that we refund the interest and charges made on your account and write off the balance of the loan. Please let me know if I have missed any points or misunderstood anything.
To investigate your complaint I have reviewed the account opening procedures in place at the time. Having done so, I am able to inform you that we conducted creditworthiness checks, we assessed your ability to afford the repayments which would fall due under the proposed agreement and we considered how you were managing other debts at that time. Based upon these checks it was considered responsible to advance credit to you.
Given the information available to me, I am unable to uphold your complaint.
Ljc says
Hi Sara
Just a quick question …I had pay day loans mainly from 2007 – 2013 , I have referred 5 to the fo as some haven’t even bothered sending me a sar and 2 have made very small offers …how can the adjudicator see me credit report from 2008 as they only go back 6 years and I’m worried they won’t see the mess I was in (I have sent them my bank statements)
Mark says
LJC,
I thought exactly the same. There’s no use having a current credit search when your complaint relates to historic loans.
So early on, about 10 days after sending the template 1 letters, I sent a full subject access request (FSAR) to all lenders requesting ALL information/documentation they held on me. From the date of my first application, to the date they process the request.
Then, they SHOULD send you the credit searches they completed at every application. If they do, you can send to the FOS pointing out what they overlooked.
If they don’t send you the credit check info (and it’s 50/50 at best in my dealings with 12 lenders!), you can point this out to the FOS. I use the line “either the lender has breached the FCA regs by not completing credit checks, or they’ve breached DPA/GDPR regs in not supplying the information they are legally required to. I’d appreciate it, if you would decide” ;-)
Holly Jane says
I received a reply from Mr Lender. I had 5 loans totalling £3,250 over a year and paid back £1,280 in interest. The last loan was for £850 and I entered a DMP after that, they carried on charging me interest so I paid £446 in interest alone on that loan, more than half! They have only admitted irresponsibility on the last loan and have offered the interest back on that. Should I send to the FOS or would it be best to just accept the offer? When I entered the DMP I was paying off 8 loans from different PDL’s.
Mark says
Holly Jane,
It’s importnat to preface this with the fact I am no expert, no solicitor and I don’t know the details of your case……
That being said, it sounds like you have a good case. It’s rare for lenders to admit ANY liability at the first chance. Lenders make commercial decisions, why would they offer to refund any money if they thought they did nothing wrong?
If I were you I’d take my chances that at the very least, the FOS agree with the lender and make them refund the last loan interest/fees. I’d GUESS for every bad news story on here there are 20 good news ones!
You need to be aware that there is a chance the FOS say the lender did nothing wrong and you lose the current offer, so it’s your choice.
Hope that helps.
Mark says
Billy,
Just the standard response from Sunny I’m afraid. If only 5% of people take their complaints no further, it’s finaincially worth their while using this method.
Forward to FOS asap and be patient.
Tom says
Hi Sara,
I’ve had a long email response from satsuma loans detailing each loan I took out with them. They said each loan (except the one currently outstanding) were cleared off, and at the time of the application I had no bad credit on my file. I did have other loans on the go, and they also have it noted that my income was put down as 1600 (which is a lot higher that it should’ve been) and that my expenditure left enough disposable income.
Then then mentioned that not providing accurate income and expenditure can be reported as a fraudulent application.
They concluded saying that they believe there was no irresponsible lending taking place.
What do I do now ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read Payday lender says I lied.
Basically the FCA’s rules mean a lender can’t just take the application as being correct without thinking what else they know. And your loan history is a big part of this – if you kept borrowing, they should have realised that you were in trouble whatever your application said and tried to verify your income & expenditure eg by looking at your bank statements.
If you don’t think you would have put your income down as 1600, say so. But if you may have done, explain the stress you were under.
If your expenses were too low, this may have been deliberate because you were desperate or by mistake because you weren’t sure/they didn’t ask you about some important things.
So basically send the complaint to the Ombudsman and make whatever points are relevant to your case.
Gillian says
Hi
I’m about to send a few to the FOS. I’ve requested bank statements from my bank. I took out the loans on my own account but income and bills all went through a joint account, and money was transferred from the joint account to the single account to pay for the PDLs. My husbands income was higher than mine which will look like he was bailing me out. But each month we struggled to pay for everything , and I would again immediately apply for PDLs and juggle them. I plan to send statement from both accounts but I wonder how this will look to the FOS and the lenders?
Thanks for any advice you can give.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely send statements for both accounts. “But each month we struggled to pay for everything , and I would again immediately apply for PDLs and juggle them. ” then that is what the FOS will see!
Dan says
Timeline Update for QuickQuid:
Original complaint – 08/12/17
Response and escalated to FOS – 03/02/18
Adjudicator Decision – 09/05/18
Rejected by QQ and sent to Ombudsman – 29/05/18
Picked up by Ombudsman – 06/08/18
Ombudsman decision – 13/08/18
Money in bank – 21/08/18
Thanks again Sara for all the advice on this website. Thanks to you I have received 4 refunds:
£460 from QuickQuid
£600 from SafetynetCredit
£1100 from Sunny
£740 from Wonga (which was used to pay off a final loan)
I am still waiting to hear back from 118118 Money!
Tony says
Hi,
Randomly I have received the below from WDA, who I have a 6yr+ complaint currently with the FOS since Sept 2017.
“Hi Anthony,
We’re writing to let you know that due to a system error you were not notified that a Summary of Borrowing for loan XXXXX, taken on the 20-Jun-14, was available in your Online Account.
We’re sorry we didn’t inform you of this. You can view your Summary of Borrowing by logging into your WageDayAdvance online account here
If you have any questions, please call 0333 006 2000 and our team will be happy to help. We’re here Monday to Friday 8am-8pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
WageDayAdvance”
Does this mean that things are moving? Or is there anything I should do?
Kind regards
Tony
JumpingJack says
Sara
I have just received the following email on the last day of the eight week deadline – should I contact the FOS today?
Case reference: xxxxxxx
Dear xxxxxxxxx
I refer to your complaint against Payday UK .I am sorry for the delay in replying to you and advise that we are not yet in a position to respond to your complaint as our investigation is not complete. The Financial Ombudsman Service gives a business eight weeks to respond to a complaint and, as this time has passed, this means: You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge. The Ombudsman might not be able to consider your complaint if:
• What you are complaining about happened more than six years ago; and
• You are complaining more than three years after you realised (or should have realised) that there was a problem.
If this is the case and the Ombudsman agrees with us, they will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances.
James Kilden says
Hi, I am currently going through my other payday loans using your templates which are great. I have a query about a current loan though. It’s with safetynet credit. It started at £150 loan but each month when i paid it back they kept upping the credit limit. It’s been since the middle of last year. I have just downloaded a statement and despite me constantly paying back i have been borrowing more and now have a balance of £1,300. I have worked out from all my statements that I have paid £1192.62 in interest to them so far. What should I do? Can I ask them to credit that amount of interest back to my account and then repay the £100 that would be left on the balance? My credit score and rating was awful when I applied to them but i was desperate and they kept offering more.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, treat this as a normal affordability complaint and ask for a refund of the interest – I can’t tell if your figures are correct but you don’t have to specify what refund you want, just say “all interest”.
You MUST cancel the CPA allowing SNC to take money from your bank account when you put in the complaint. These complaints are stronger because they should have been able to see from your bank account what a mess you were in.
Lisa says
I made a complaint to SNC and stated that they’d kept offering to up the amount I could borrow when I wasn’t in a position to borrow any more. They agreed and refunded me something to the tune of £1200 (I can’t remember exact amounts. £600 cleared my outstanding balance and £600 paid into my account. My CPA was already cancelled with them as I’d changed banks and set up an arrangement plan with them where I paid them £65 a month via standing order to clear the balance. This refund was brilliant because it’s also saved me £65 a month. SNC to their fairness were one of the first people to respond to my complaint and once I’d agreed the settlement it took them about 2 weeks for them to process the payment, close my account and update the credit reference agency.
JD says
Hi
I’ve found this website really helpful, having struggled over the last 6 years with many loans from payday lenders, I have now started the process of contacting lenders with the help of the templates. There is one lender to whom I have started the process with, but have also realised something that may be quite important, can anyone please let me know whether my thoughts are correct or not?
Took out loan in 04/2015 for £3,000. 24 monthly repayment terms, after 9 repayments (totalling £2,185.38) they approached me for another loan. That was taken out in 01/2016 for £3,700 (according to paperwork), however they only sent me £1,028.12, the rest they said was used to pay off the first loan. After 24 monthly repayment of the second loan, I repaid £6,354.72. At the end, they voluntarily refunded me £94.17 for some reason. I’m confused as to whether these 2 loans are linked or not. So the total amount that went into my bank account from the lender was £4,122.29 (£4,028.12 loans + refund of £94.17). The total amount that I paid back to them was £8,540.10.
I read somewhere that at the start of 2015, the FCA introduced caps and measures prevent anyone ever paying back more than what they borrowed. Looking at my loans, I paid back 107% of the amount I physically received overall. Does this mean the lender violated FCA regulations or due to it technically being a new loan, they were above board?
Thanks in Advance!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender? The 100% price cap unfortunately only applied to short term lending – your loans were more than 12 months so it doesn’t apply to them.
But you may still have a very good affordability complaint!
JD says
It was Everyday-Loans, I have sent them the complaint but heard nothing yet, it’s only been a month so a while before I hear anything back or not in which case I’ll be sending it to the FOS.
Thanks Sara, I didn’t think it would be the case after all. Out of all the lenders, the repayment amount ratio to borrowed amount is definitely the highest though. Looking back through all my loans, I can’t believe how much I managed to borrow from payday lenders, whilst definitely struggling to repay a huge majority of them, using loans to pay loans, etc.. the vicious cycle got me. Still feeling the affects of it all today.
They were very pushy both times when I had to go in to their office, they had me log into my online banking account and supply them with screenshots from my PD loan accounts whilst there. They were fully aware of my financial situation due to my PD debts, yet they lent to me twice and not only that, they constantly rang me asking if I wanted to take more loans out.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
People are winning complaints about Everyday Loans. With these large one or two loan cases the best approach is to go into a lot of detail about exactly what they knew before each loan – what expenses were on your bank accounts that they ignored? ( people have been asked about petrol costs but not about car insurance and servicing costs, not been asked what you spent on clothes etc) – did you say you wanted their first loan to consolidate other debts, but for the second loan you actually owed more showing your situation was getting worse?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Updating this to say that I have now written an article about complaining about these large, high cost loans: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/
Nat Garvey says
Hi there Sara, I had 3 loans with Satsuma (1 is currently included with my DMP). I overstated my income by ~£500 and understated my expenses/debt repayments by ~£300 (this was for all three loans). My credit file would have contradicted this as I had several loans from different lenders at the same time. It is not looking promising in my opinion… I was thinking of sending some more supporting information but I think I’ll just leave it with the FOS.
Thanks
Mark says
Nat,
I did exactly the same thing. I lied about expenses as I was addicted to gambling.
I got copies of all the “creditworthiness and affordability” documents, that the lenders used when making their decision (this would normally be credit searches, income and expenditure forms and occasionally bank statements), by making a full subject access request (FSAR).
Once I got this (within 28days), I went back to the lenders and stated one by one, each expenditure figure that was wrong and that the lender either took my word for it, or the figure was so wrong, the lender should have known. (In my case one lender had monthly food costs as £12!) Either way this is wrong.
I’m 1 for 1 with that method so far (118118Money).
If I were you, I’d read and re read the FCA handbook, especially 5.3.1(4b) and 5.3.7. Then look again at your case and tell the lender why you have a case. That’s what I did. Fingers crossed it works for my other cases.
Greg says
Hi Everyone
* Complained to Wonga in March – they offered me £1200
* I rejected it and sent to the FOS as i I knew I had a strong case (thanks to this site) having had 50+ loans
* 03/08 Adjudicator sent Wonga her assessment recommending they refund 43 of the loans ( I worked out at around £7200 including 8% stat)
* 10/08 Wonga offered to refund 16 loans and settle at £3900
* I rejected and Adjudicator told Wonga it was going to the Ombudsman -Wonga then did a u turn and accepted her full recommendation and offered to settle at £6994 :)
Delighted with the outcome and its all thanks to the advice of Sara and this site
Moral of the story – never accept a rubbish offer, go all the way if you have to
Amanda says
Hi Sara
Great site! I’ve sent complaints to several lenders including QuickQuid, Pounds2Pocket, Uncle Buck, WageDayAdvance, Mr Lender, PDUK and Mymate to name a few all in the same 12-18 month period. I’ve recently received a reply from QQ/P2P (joint reply) stating they are NOT upholding my complaints. The reasons they have given are:
AFFORDABILITY & CREDIT WORTHINESS: It was noted your monthly income was stated as £8000/month. I compared income to total monthly repayment for each loan – was always more than enough to cover the amount you had to repay us for each loan and thus I cannot agree with you that your loans were unaffordable.
DEPENDENCY: When I reviewed your loan history I see that you held a total of 3 loans which given the low number does not exhibit financial dependency. When I reviewed your loan history I see that you never had more than four consecutive loans with less than 15 days between loans.
HARDSHIP: Finally, our records indicate that at no point did you notify us of any financial detriment or financial hardship.
CONCLUSION: COMPLAINT NOT UPHELD -Therefore it is for the above reasons we cannot agree that CashEuroNet irresponsibly lent to you.
Sara…. I wish I earned £8000 month back in 2014/5 – I’m a nurse and have NEVER earned that much even when I literally worked every hour I legally could. Also they have sent me copies of 7x credit agreements???
What should I do now?
Many thanks in advance.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have been sent QQs standard fill in the numbers template rejection.
Is it possible you earned about 2k a month and they put your monthly wage down as weekly?
Were any of your loans over 6 years old? They may have simply ignored those when they said you only had 3?
Amanda says
Hi Sarah
2k is possible per month. All of the loans were from 2014/5.
Thanks
Amanda
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok then I suggest you send the complaint to the Ombudsman and say they have your income totally wrong, then may have it down as weekly what you said for monthly – this should have been obvious to them at the time and they should have queried it?
Also point out they seem to have the number of loans wrong as they have sent you details of 7.
Nina says
I has exactly the same reply from QQ. £8000 have they lost their minds hahaha. Would we even bother if we’d earned that sort of income.
Tom says
Sara,
How long do the businesses have to provide SAR? Trusted Quid are the only ones out of 5 or 6 who haven’t provided me it. I called them up to chase them, they were rude and said it would be 30 days from the date of their acknowledgement (which was 7th August). I told them that it should be from the date of my request, which was 31st July.
Thanks
Shannon says
ICO says it must be provided without delay and within 30 days of the company receiving your request. The company is right on this one.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You are right, but honestly it isn’t worth getting worked up about this sort of thing. With 6 complaints on the go, try to chill and focus on what is important!
Steve says
Update from MyJar – I put in my complaint to them on the 21st August, two days later they’ve emailed back with their final response to say they’re not upholding my complaint, even though when I applied with them I already had several late payments recorded on my credit file, and a default. Plus, I took out a second loan with them within days of the first one finishing. I’ve now passed this onto the FOS, so will see what they come back with…
Nina says
Hi Sara,
So – After informing you about the ridiculous response from QQ, I contacted the FO online and have received a letter asking for information (if not already received) Will the information/bank statements etc all added the online compain count? or do I need to send this paper form?
I’ve just received my 2nd PDL complaint – Which is from Peachy. They have said the complaint is not upheld:
When you created the account, you provided us with the following information that you confirmed to be correct. You stated that you were in full-time employment, earning £1,250 net per month, against which you listed your total monthly expenditures to be £600. These details were later updated by you. You also stated that you were single and living with your parents, which led us to believe that your relatively low expenditures were feasible.
We note that we are not obliged to ask for copies of your bank statements. We trusted the information you provided us with to be true and accurate. The lowest net disposable income you stated to have prior to taking out the loans was £650 , which was more than enough to cover the loan repayments.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you have attached a copy of your Noddle credit record and bank statements to your online complaint, you don’t need to post these. And if you make a complaint about a different lender, say in the complaint that you have already sent bank statements etc with the QQ one as they can be shared.
How many loans did you have from peachy? What was your credit record like when you applied to them, and did it get worse? Would your credit record have showed borrowing that you didn’t include in your list of expenses?
Andrew says
Hi,
Just by way of an update on my case with Wonga. I posted in the forums on the 6th August about Wongas lack of response within 8 weeks from an affordability complaint. Long story short, they were using my old email address whilst stating they couldn’t find my account.
I contacted them by phone and email, resolving the contact issue and laid out what loans I had over the years and the interest. I then proposed an amount I would be happy with to settle (roughly 3/4 of what I MAY have got if gone to adjudicator and FOS and they agreed ALL loans). I also complained regarding their lack of response.
Within 2 days, I had a response from Wonga stating they will come back to me with a response within 48 hours.
1 day later I received an offer which was acceptable to me (mid 4 figures), and I accepted. Money was in account 3 days later.
I note I may have got more money if went to FOS, but I also may not have, and would have been another few months down the line of letter/statements etc…. I was happy with the settlement achieved. My tactic may not work, or even be acceptable to others, but seemed to go fine for me.
I am now pursuing Uncle Buck and have taken the same tack of making them an offer to see how they react. I’m also on to 118, but that’s a slightly different case with a current live loan.
All thanks to Sara!
JP lAVIN says
Evening
i just wanted some advise regarding refunds from QQ and P2P, i emailed them on the 03rd Aug 2018 and i’ve had a offer of 663.14.
i accpeted this offer on the pretext that the monies would be refunded directly to my new bank account
i called into there resolutions team and was advised that the refund would be made to my account, but instead there trying to waive it from the balance
i applied for a DRO in June 2014. Does this mean that im not entitled to the any refund and the money goes to the original lender or the company(Mckenzie Hall) they sold the debt onto
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“i accpeted this offer on the pretext that the monies would be refunded directly to my new bank account” does this mean they said that to you? or you assumed it would be what happened?
was all your QQ borrowing before your DRO and you had a debt that was originally with QQ in your DRO? If yes, do you remember how large the QQ debt in the DRO was? And did the offer to you include a refund on the final defaulted debts? (sorry for all the questions!)
JP says
Not to sure if my reply was posted or not but all my QQ prior to the DRO
The monies owed in the DRO
was 408 to mckenzie hall third party debt company
This was the offer reply
CONCLUSION: COMPLAINT UPHELD
We take seriously our responsibility to treat customers fairly and to that point we uphold your complaint as it relates to irresponsible lending. As such, we would like to offer to waive £663.14 which equates to the interest charged plus 8% statutory interest on loans 5753095, 5969942.
OFFER BREAKDOWN
Please find the breakdown of the offer below:
-Contractual interest and/or charges £500.29
– Interest at 8% simple £203.56
-20% tax withholding on interest £40.71
-Amount applied to your outstanding balance £663.14
Please note this offer includes an element of interest payable at 8
I then rang as the offer stated waived the debt so I rang there resolution team for clarification and was advised that the refund would go back to me directly the advisor took my new bank details and they have now set up a D/D for the 663.14
I rang them again this afternoon and requested that a manager ring me back.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“we would like to offer to waive £663.14 which equates to the interest charged plus 8% statutory interest on loans 5753095, 5969942.”
How many loans did you have from QQ? The last defaulted loan – that wasn’t one of those two loans? How much did you borrow for the last loan and did you make any payments to it?
Jp says
Customer Summary
Number of Loans 4
# payday 2
# OEC 0
# P2P 2
Number of Loans > 6 Years 2
This is what they stated in the email but I’m sure I took out more than four
And I’m not sure if these loans relate to the defaulted debt or not sorry
How would I establish which loan was defaulted on will it state it on my DRO
Sara (Debt Camel) says
do you not have a list of your loans from QQ? You would normally have defaulted on the last loan.
If you don’t, I suggest you ask them to send you a list of your loans now. Without this, how can you tell if an offer is good or not?
Lisa says
Another update;
CashASAP offered me a £66 “good will gesture” saying that’s the interest on my last 5 loans. Seemed very low to me so I’ve gone back to them to query that figure. That was 2 weeks ago and I’m still waiting.
Mr Lender offered me a reduction of £781 on my current loan. I accepted (it reduced the balance to £676). They’ve been quick to respond and very decent so was happy to accept.
Quick quid have rejected my complaint (over 6 years old). Satsuma (actually 9 loans not 4 as stated above), Provident, Cashfloat (only 1 loan) and Everyday Loans have also rejected my complaint. I’m waiting on bank statements and will send a case to the FO.
Still waiting to hear from 118118, Piggy Bank (although my current loan is on hold and they haven’t taken a payment), MyJar (again my current loan is on hold and they haven’t taken a payment), Wonga, 247 Moneybox, and 3 other lenders (1 loan, each Leander).
I have also submitted complaints to Wageday Advance (5 loans in 1 year, 4 falling into arrears), Payday UK (awaiting details) and Payday Express (15 loans over 4 years). All of these are over 6 years.
Effectively still waiting on 11 lenders, settled with 2 and will send 5 to FO (although expecting to send most of the 11 I’m still waiting to FO too).
Will keep everyone updated!
Carl says
Hi there, been reading over this website over the past few days, I have quite a few loans with different providers, Wonga QuickQuid lending stream satsuma myjar, each month i was clearing the balance and borrowing more to cover others and so on , eventually catching up on me since then I’ve defaulted on Wonga around £500 and QuickQuid around £400 , I normally borrow again on the same date every month, this has been going on for the best part of 3 years, do you think I would have a case of getting refunds off them? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of borrowing – having to borrow every month means the loans weren’t affordable, so start the complaints!